A blog that focuses on our unique program to teach children to gentle wild horses and start colts using natural horsemanship. This blog discusses our efforts to prevent the extinction of the Corolla Spanish Mustang. We are the home of Tradewind, a formerly wild Corolla Spanish mustang stallion who was named the 2011 National Pleasure Trail Horse of the Year by the Horse of the Americas Registry. We are an American Indian Horse Registry Hall of Fame Farm.

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Saturday, November 1, 2014

To Teach: An Educational Institution

Each day spent without learning something is a wasted day. One of the most compelling attractions of the Colonial Spanish horse is his role in our history. A key to efforts to preserve these horses is to present them in their historic context.

That is where the settler's home in our horse lot fits in. That is where the Colonial Spanish goats in our horse lot fit in. That is where the heirloom seeds that Jackie will be putting down in our garden fit in. That is where dramatic presentations about Betsy Dowdy will fit in. That is where presentations on stone age technology and Indian artifacts fit in. That is where our library at the Little House, which contains books not only on horse training but on American history, fits in. That is where riding at night fits in. That is where learning ancient songs and playing and singing them around a big fire last night fit in.

One of the other compelling attractions of the Colonial Spanish horse is that he can be the horse of our future. He is the ideal family horse for the hobby farmer, the homeschooling family and those interested in sustainability. That is where rotational grazing fits in. That is where experiments with worm production in compost will fit in. That is where resource utilization including allowing the horses to eat browse fits in. That is where soil conservation planning fits in. That is where free range chickens fit in. That is where constant education on plants and wildlife fit in.

So how do learning to tan hides fit into the preservation of Colonial Spanish horses? Look at these pictures of Kyle and Krista doing their first day of work tanning hides. Their mother helped them with defleshing and stretching the hides. It was her first effort at ever doing so. We were working these hides at the tack shed, about three hundred yards east of Archaic era Indian sites that are found in pasture Number 1.

A mother and two of her children in 2014 working deer hides together just up the hill from where mothers and children worked hides together nearly 2000 years ago.

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About Me

In my coat and tie life I am a prosecutor in Smithfield, Virgina. In my boots and blue jeans life am Executive Director of the Gwaltney Frontier Farm, Inc, an non profit organizations which administers Mill Swamp Indian Horses. We raise mustangs, including the rare and endangered Corolla Spanish Mustangs. We teach natural horsemanship to students as young as five years old. I have written several articles on natural horsemanship and recently published my first book, "And a Little Child Shall Lead Them: Learning From Wild Horses and Small Children. I was a recipient of the Keeper of the Flame Award from the American Indian horse Association for our efforts to preserve the Corolla Spanish mustangs and in 2009 we were recognized by the Horse of the Americas Registry with the Carol Stone Ambassador Award. In 2011 we received the Currituck Star Award for our Corolla preservation efforts.
My wife, Beth Edwards and I have three daughters and five grandchildren. See our web site, www.msindianhorses.com

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